


The Other Monster Hunters

by CiaranthePage



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: (except for the ocs), Canon Compliant, F/F, Gen, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Tree Arc, Secret Organizations, rating for swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-02-29 09:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18775198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CiaranthePage/pseuds/CiaranthePage
Summary: Monsters exist outside of Kepler, West Virginia, but the world remains unaware, and for very good reason. Someone will always rise to the challenge of saving the world; sometimes in more ways than one. But saving the world is a dangerous business, even if you're on the inside. Especially if you're on the inside.Sometimes, the only way out of danger is into the woods.-The Pine Guard meets Reaper Unit 147, and everything changes.





	1. The Call to Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> hi! it's me! yes i haven't finished femslash feb, sorry, life decided to run me over with a truck and this has been one of a handful of wips that's kept me going  
> i actually started this back in august 2018 (don't worry, it's been heavily edited since then : P) and i decided that i wanted to start sharing it outside of my friend group bcus i love my darling very much  
> as of writing this note, i also have chapters 2-4 done and 5+6 are in the works, but i'll probably hold off posting chp 2 for a hot second while i try to re-finish chp 5 (i ended up scrapping it and rewriting from scratch)  
> get ready for the beginning of a long and very fun ride ^u^

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janice needs help. Getting it shouldn't be... _too_ hard, right?

Janice did not get paid enough for this shit. And she wasn’t getting paid at all for this particular shit.

 

She put her head against the steering wheel of her car, hands in her lap. She didn’t want to go inside the lodge. Mama was probably on her way out; Grimm cars were pretty recognizable in this (literal) neck of the woods. Mama didn’t hate Janice, specifically, but considering as far as she was aware Janice was here on official but unannounced Grimm business instead of alliance business, Janice wasn’t expecting the warmest greeting. Maybe if she waited out here for someone to get her said greeting wouldn’t involve any yelling.

 

No, that was dumb. She raised her head, staring out the windshield for another moment before deciding to face her fate and step out of the car. No use in delaying this any longer than she had to. If she could get the explanation for her presence out as fast as possible maybe there wouldn’t be any hostilities hanging around the lodge during their stay. After all, since it wasn’t official Grimm business -- in fact, this was so unofficial she wasn’t even entirely sure she could get away with it as easily as the rest of their dealings -- Mama would probably be merciful. Janice took a deep breath, threw her bag over her shoulder, and walked to the front door.

 

Clutching the strap of her messenger bag, Janice knocked. Breathe in, hold, out. The door opened. Janice started to plaster her big Pine Guard-greeting grin onto her face, looking up to where she expected Mama’s eyes to be, and then her face fell when her eyes met empty air and dropped to meet the (still higher than Janice’s) gaze of a woman she’d never met. The woman looked as confused as Janice felt; her hair was styled up in an undercut pompadour dyed to look like fire, face and ears sporting a multitude of piercings, wearing casual clothes, round glasses, and slippers. Something about her made alarm bells go off in Janice’s head, something that screamed _magic_ in a way that was supposed to be impossible. They looked at each other, blinked, and then the magic woman was smiling, saying, “Hi! Um, come on in.”

 

Janice mumbled something that was supposed to be a “thank you” and stepped inside the lodge. The door shut behind her and the woman didn’t leave, standing with her hands in her pockets and a big, forced smile. Janice hesitated for a moment, but if she was here, then she was probably supposed to be. And if she was supposed to be, then… “Where’s Mama?” Janice asked. “I have important business to discuss with her.”

 

“Oh, you’re here to talk to Mama?” The magic woman’s fake politeness fell away, replaced with something more… cautious, as far as Janice could tell. “I’ll go get her.”

 

She jogged off toward the office. Janice waved at a gathering of Sylphs that recognized her, stuck in her spot by the appearance of someone new at the lodge. This magic woman wasn’t Sylvan; Janice hadn’t heard about any crossings. Mama was supposed to be in touch about any of those. But Mama trusted this magic woman enough to let her into the lodge, presumably to stay. So who _was_ she? Was she… hmm. Janice pulled a notepad out of her bag and started jotting down the details of their encounter before she forgot.

 

“Janice.”

 

Mama’s voice interrupted Janice’s note-taking. Janice looked up while shoving her notepad into her bag. She slapped on her Pine Guard smile and said, “Mama, good to see you! Could I speak to you somewhere private?”

 

“The office,” Mama said, as Janice expected. Before Janice could start moving, Mama motioned to the magic woman and said, “But she’ll be joining us.”

 

Janice, for a brief moment, wanted to argue, she opened her mouth to argue… but it was no use. She didn’t have the leverage here, and in her head, Janice could admit that the magic woman had caught her attention. Said magic woman peeked out from behind Mama and then looked up to her, asking, “Mama, who’s this?”

 

“We’ll talk about that later. Let’s just head to the office.”

 

Mama and the magic woman started walking to their destination. Janice followed two steps behind, as per usual, closing the door behind them and setting her bag on the table (huh, someone had cleaned up in here). Mama sat in one of the chairs but made no move to offer one to Janice; the magic woman sat beside Mama and crossed her arms on the table.

 

“I thought they were supposed to call ahead when they sent one of you,” Mama said, settling her chin on one hand, narrowing her eyes. “What’re you doin’ in Kepler unannounced?”

 

“ _They_ didn’t send me. I know I should’ve given a heads up myself but I was afraid someone would hear,” Janice said, folding her hands together. “Mama, I have a favor I need to ask you.”

 

The magic woman, who had been looking between Janice and Mama, interrupted Mama to say, “Okay, I’m confused. _Who is this_?”

 

“My name is Janice Darcy. I’m the head of Reaper Unit 147, Grimm Medical Company,” Janice said, sticking out a hand. “Well, usually. I’m here on… unofficial business.”

 

“Aubrey Little, or the Lady Flame, if you’ve seen my show,” the magic woman said, accepting the handshake. Aubrey looked to Mama, who just nodded. She continued, “I’m also part of the Pine Guard.

 

“…Also, what’s Grimm Medical Company? That sounds like a shitty name for a hospital.”

 

Part of the Pine Guard! So she’d been right: Aubrey was one of the new recruits she’d heard a rumor about. Were the other two around the lodge? Maybe not, Mama would’ve pulled them in to talk to her if they were around. Probably. Maybe Aubrey was her favorite? Did Mama play favorites? As long as Janice had been working with the Pine Guard, it’d just been Mama and Barclay, so she couldn’t be sure.

 

She shook her head to disrupt her thought process; she didn’t have time to think about that in detail. Janice reset her thoughts with a smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Aubrey. As for my employer…” She rummaged in her bag and pulled out a little booklet.

 

The booklet was simple, explaining the medical work Grimm did and the hospitals it kept around the world. Hopefully enough to keep her occupied while Janice broke her plea to Mama. Aubrey skimmed it as Janice turned to Mama, her expression falling to desperation, saying, “Mama, let me explain before you say anything. I promise it won’t be expensive or --”

 

“Just spit it out,” Mama said, waving her on.

 

Janice nodded and started pulling things out of her bag, laying them across the table. Four manila folders, each labeled with a name and a number in code, so full of paper Janice had made them string locks. A blue folder with another code written on the front in red ink. A small envelope with “private” scribbled on the cover. “My unit needs somewhere to hide,” she explained. “We’re stuck in a limbo period after… a problem arose, and I don’t want to separate everyone.”

 

“All three of them?” Mama said, wrinkling her eyebrows. “Janice, are you sure you can’t just send them home like you usually do? Why do you need to hide out here in the middle of the woods?”

 

“All four of us, and no.” Janice slumped into a seat, trying not to give away how faint she was starting to feel. She rubbed her face, taking a deep breath. “This is kind of our worst-case scenario? Rachel’s disappeared to who knows where, and we had to replace her with someone new and. And there was an argument.” Quieter, “That I may have started.” Louder, “So now I can’t send them home, or separate us. It’s. It’s too risky.”

 

Mama winced, looking at her with something like pity. Janice let herself settle on the table, relaxing her muscles for the first time in several hours. “So, yeah,” she said, propping her chin on her crossed arms. “If we could stay here for a few weeks to lie low, Mama, you’d save my ass. We’ll do anything you need -- cooking, cleaning, hunting, staying quiet, whatever it takes. You’re our last hope to hide until this blows over.”

 

Mama didn’t answer her right away, looking at Janice and letting the wheels turn. Aubrey slid the booklet back over to Janice, gently poking her arm to get her attention. Once she had looked over, Aubrey said, “This just says you guys do like, hospital stuff. Why do you know about the Pine Guard?”

 

Janice laughed humorlessly, sitting up a bit. “Hospitals are a part of what we do, but that’s all the public knows, so that’s all I can give you papers on. But in secret we, well. We do a lot of the same things the Pine Guard does. Mostly --”

 

“They hunt monsters,” Mama interjected. “But they hunt… different monsters than we do. For money.”

 

“And research,” Janice added. “We do biological research and medical engineering, as well. Grimm Medical is… I guess you could call it our host, or parent company.”

 

Aubrey’s eyes were wide, almost sparkling, and her enthusiasm was contagious. Janice smiled back at her, gesturing to the folders on the table. “That’s what my unit does. We’re monster hunters.”

 

“We?” Mama seemed surprised, raising her eyebrows. “Grouping yourself in there, now?”

 

Janice nodded. “They have me doing missions. We’re short on Reaper staff until…” she stopped, picking her words carefully. “Some confidential research comes to a conclusion.”

 

“It’s always ‘confidential’ shit with you,” Mama huffed, complete with air quotes.

 

Janice tried to convey her “really?” as much as possible with her expression alone. “It’s only for a little while longer,” she offered. “The information will go clear for everyone as soon as the testing stage is over.” _Or at least once we figure out what went wrong._

 

She slid the folders closer to Mama, who took them without another word. She started to flip through each one while Janice took a few deep breaths and steadied herself. This could go well. If it did, she’d have to find some cell service back where she’d been staying for the last few days and get a hold of Evan to let her know they could come to Kepler. As she waited for Mama to read the files, the silence grew itchy and Janice moved her chair to face Aubrey with as much of a smile as she had left. Getting a closer look at her face, Janice focused in on the magic energy that radiated out from Aubrey and gave her a hazy red aura. She was intriguing; perhaps the magic would explain her presence in the Pine Guard. “So, Aubrey,” Janice said, fiddling with the chipping nail polish on one hand. “You mentioned a show? I don’t think I’m familiar.”

 

“It was pretty small-time,” Aubrey admitted. “Until I joined the Pine Guard I was a traveling stage magician! I did a bunch of magic tricks with a pyrotechnic flair.” She emphasized the end by wiggling her fingers in mock-flames.

 

...Magic tricks? “Pyrotechnic?” Janice echoed.

 

“Like, flash paper and metal shavings to spice it up,” Aubrey explained. She pulled a pair of white gloves from her pocket, showing off the scuffs and ash stains on the palms. “Plus the regular, you know, disappearing acts and communicating with my rabbit, Dr. Harris Bonkers. I’d show you but this is a closed space and it's _pretty_ dramatic.”

 

“Perhaps another time, then. And, excuse me if I’m prodding a little, how does a traveling magician end up in the Pine Guard?”

 

Aubrey slipped on one of her gloves, stuck out her hand, palm up, and snapped. A tiny flame appeared, hovering just above her fingers. The grin on Aubrey’s face told Janice everything she needed to know about her own expression. “Magic powers.”

 

“Holy shit.” (That wasn’t supposed to be possible.)

 

The flame went out and the gloves were stuffed back in Aubrey’s pocket; Janice caught a glimpse of Mama’s expression as the folders were flopped back onto the table and deduced there was probably an established rule about (actual) flame magic in the office.

 

“Alright, Janice, y’all can stay,” Mama said, stacking the folders. “I won’t have anything for you to do immediately but you’ll all be on standby. It’s gettin’ to be that time of the season.”

 

Janice stood up and took Mama’s hands without thinking, now grinning widely enough to make tears prickle her eyes. “Thank you,” she said, dropping Mama’s hands and pulling back. “Thank you so much. We’ll be back in… just a few days. Maybe tomorrow? I’m not sure if they started packing or not before I left.”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Mama said. “We’re still a week and a half out from the full moon, just try to get settled before something shows up.”

 

She slid the folders back over to Janice, who shoved them all in her bag and slung it back over her shoulder. “I’ll try to call, but we’ll be in a bit of a hurry.”

 

Mama waved her out; Janice waved and, after wiping her eyes, left the lodge as calmly as she could, pretending she couldn’t hear a snatch of Mama and Aubrey’s conversation even after she’d closed the door.

 

Finally, some good fucking news.


	2. Charcoal Reconnaissance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aubrey asks questions and gets... some of the answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...so i told myself, "hey opal, why don't you hold off on posting chapter 2 until you finish chapter 5?"  
> and then i realized. i tagged danbrey, which is true, that's gonna be in this, but dani doesn't even appear in chapter 1, which was followed by an additional realization that without chapter 2 there's no indication of how the perspective is going to work in this fic  
> so here's chapter 2 to both give you dani and show how the perspective is going to switch off each chapter  
> i hope you enjoy!

“Ssoo, are you going to explain what’s going on ooorrrr?”

 

Aubrey leaned back in her chair, rocking it back and forth. Mama groaned, rubbing her temples. “I didn’t think it’d come up so soon,” she admitted. “You know most of the basics from that whole conversation. There’s a big monster huntin’ medical company. They don’t like us much. Something about the abominations bein’ different than what we hunt. But we made a truce back when we started the Pine Guard thing so they’d leave us and the Sylphs here in the lodge alone.”

 

Mama stood up and took a few moments to browse a shelf of binders in the corner; whatever she was looking for was apparently absent, because she started talking again without taking anything down. “Janice came to us a few years ago and struck a… we call it an alliance, ‘stead of our regular truce. She makes sure to keep Grimm from hearing about what we’re doing, helps with supplies or hunts now and then, and we help her out.”

 

“And you just… never thought to mention that to us?” Aubrey said. Her chair settled on the floor and she stood up to walk over to Mama. “I mean, I guess you’ve been gone, but the fact that more  _monster hunters_ exist seems pretty important!”

 

Mama sighed, putting a hand on Aubrey’s shoulder. “I didn’t want y’all tangled up in their mess sooner than you had to,” she said. “Aubrey, they’re not like us, Grimm. They don’t put in the same effort to protect people from getting hurt. They don’t give a damn about their own employees if their research gets dubbed first in line.

 

“Trust me. You’re better off not havin’ to deal with them while I’m still around.”

 

Aubrey crossed her arms, but she nodded. Mama shoved her hands in the pockets of her duster, speaking up after a few seconds of silence. “All you need to worry about is havin’ new people around the lodge for a while. Keep to themselves, mostly, but Janice’ll get you introduced once they show up.”

 

Mama left the office, leaving Aubrey to stew on this new information. Other people knew about the abominations and that there was a gate to another world in the woods outside of Kepler. There were other monsters in the world, ones unlike the Pine Guard’s targets. People hunted those monsters for money and medicine She was going to get to meet some of these monster hunters. Mama had said Grimm didn’t care about the people involved -- did that mean these monster hunters didn’t either? Or were they simply tools in the company’s hands? Were the employees human? They had to be, right? Janice seemed pretty human and they didn’t get involved with Kepler, which meant the others probably weren’t Sylvan.

 

A knock on the door disrupted her thought process. Dani opened the door and leaned against it, lips pursed. “You okay? Mama left in her truck in kind of a huff, and… I was afraid something had happened.”

 

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Aubrey said, drifting over to stand next to Dani. “I just… found out some stuff and I’m not really sure what to do with it.”

 

“I saw Janice,” Dani said, rubbing one arm. “I know Mama won’t tell me, so.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “What happened?”

 

“Something about people having to stay here,” Aubrey said, matching her volume. “Um, Janice and her unit. Someone disappeared?”

 

“Oooh.” Dani’s eyes widened. “Something big, then.”

 

“Have they stayed here before?”

 

“Yeah, like... a year and a half ago?”

 

Oh. Aubrey stared at the door frame for a moment, thinking. If Dani could recognize Janice on sight, then maybe she knew more. Mama hand-waving the issue away hadn’t done much to quell Aubrey’s curiosity, but she also didn’t want Mama to know she was digging around for more information. She could… Aubrey stole a glance around the room and out the door. They were alone. “Can you tell me anything about them? Mama was… eager to drop it.”

 

“Yeah,” Dani sighed. “She’s pretty dodgy about anything involving Grimm. Um, let me think.”

 

Dani took Aubrey’s hand and lead them away from the office. She moved down the hall toward her room; Aubrey had them take a detour to hers to grab Dr. Harris Bonkers so she could keep an eye on him while they talked. The air was tangled, a soft anxiety filling the corners of Aubrey’s head as she tried to figure out what she actually  _wanted_ to know that Dani could tell her.

 

Once in the room, they sat on Dani’s bed, snuggling up under a blanket. Dani pulled her sketchbook and some charcoal out of her bedside table, setting it in her lap and flipping to one of the pages with a sticky note flag on it. Aubrey put an arm around Dani’s waist, leaning on her shoulder to watch her draw. Dani spoke up after a few beats of silence as she worked on the unfinished drawing.

 

“I don’t know who disappeared, but I’ve met the whole group before,” Dani said. “It was only for a couple days, last time. I think they were here to help with a hunt?

 

“Besides Janice, there’s Evan, Victoria, and Rachel. They’re all pretty nice folks, hard workers. Evan’s got a case of permanent cold shoulder for everybody but Victoria, but everyone else was friendly enough the few days they stayed.”

 

“Rachel! That’s who disappeared,” Aubrey said. “Janice seemed pretty worked up about it.”

 

Dani’s hand paused her drawing as she looked up at Aubrey. “Rachel disappeared?” she said, wrinkling her eyebrows. She frowned, more saddened by the news than Aubrey had expected. “Oh, no wonder Janice seemed so worked up. They were… close, last time they were here.”

 

" _Oh_.”

 

Dani looked back down. Aubrey found herself left, to her surprise, without any questions. It was all still settling in, categorizing itself piece by piece. She had met plenty of new faces since moving to Kepler -- settling down across the country entailed meeting lots of new people by nature -- but those had all been regular people just living their life. This was on a whole new level. There hadn’t been any crossings from Sylvain since she’d moved into the lodge, and according to Barclay, there hadn’t been any for quite some time, so the idea of meeting four new people involved in all of the supernatural stuff was hard to wrap her mind around. She was still wrestling with everything -- she’d gotten to the point in her anxious brain cycle where she had to put her free hand in her lap to keep from doing nervous magic exercises in Dani’s room (she really, really didn’t want to catch it on fire for a multitude of reasons). She took a deep breath -- maybe she needed a distraction to let her brain relax and process it correctly. Aubrey shifted, sticking her legs out to the side to better look at the sketchbook in Dani’s lap.

 

“What are you drawing?” she asked.

 

Dani blew gently on the paper, banishing some stray charcoal dust. The drawing, as far as Aubrey could puzzle from what Dani had finished so far, was of the hot springs behind the lodge with a handful of people hanging out. Aubrey could recognize Jake -- even as a sketch it was hard not to recognize Jake, still wearing his snowboarding goggles even in the hot springs -- and Brandy, one of the werewolves, sitting in one. Someone who looked like Barclay with shorter hair (so, probably Barclay) was standing by the door, drying his hair. There were other Sylphs from around the lodge, and sitting across from Jake and Brandy were two women Aubrey had never seen before. One had a long braid tied up in a low bun, with rose tattoos all over her body and glasses perched on her nose; she was significantly taller and more muscular than most of the other people in the drawing. She was sitting on the edge of the spring, pants rolled up so she could dip her feet in. The other unfamiliar woman was settled in the spring, smiling at the tattooed woman. She had short, fluffy hair and was wearing several necklaces despite being in the water; she was much thinner than the other woman, but not particularly dainty.

 

Dani picked up a tiny thing of sandpaper and carefully started running her charcoal along it, explaining, “It’s the last time they visited. I didn’t plan on finishing it, but…”

 

“It’s so pretty,” Aubrey said, almost reaching out to touch it before stuffing her hand back in her lap.

 

Dani giggled, saying, “Thank you. This is Evan, by the way, and Victoria.” She pointed to the unfamiliar women, denoting the one with the braid as Evan and the one with short hair as Victoria.

 

Dr. Harris Bonkers jumped up onto the bed, sniffing the charcoal in Dani’s hand and sneezing. The tension in Aubrey’s shoulders broke and she laughed, almost falling off the bed. Dani snickered as she grabbed a baby carrot off of her bedside table and offered it to him. The issue still nagged at the back of Aubrey’s brain, but she managed to push it aside with a deep breath and settle down to watch Dani finish the drawing; there probably wasn’t much information she could pry out of anyone else that Dani couldn’t have given her, and if Barclay knew anything else it’d be a huge effort to get it out of him. She would just have to wait. It was only going to be another two days or so until she could ask them in person.

 

Sure, she wasn’t the best at waiting, but she had Pine Guard prep and hanging out with Dani or around the parks in Kepler or at the Cryptonomica to distract her.

 

Taking Dr. Harris Bonkers into her lap, Aubrey settled deeper into Dani and tried not to doze off watching her draw. This time, she could wait.


	3. Good News, Dinner News, and Naptime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janice is tired. So is everyone else. They're all going to have to deal with it together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ............so i finished chapter 5 sooner than i thought i would  
> i will be upfront and say that probably don't expect another update _super_ quick, while i have 4+5 finished i'm gonna run with only posting a chp once i finish one so i can keep a steady backlog going in case of an emergency (so chp 4 will go up when i finish 6, 5 when i finish 7, etc)  
> but! that aside, this chapter is where p much all of the other important ocs are introduced, and i love all of them, and i hope you do too ^u^  
> enjoy!

Maybe she’d picked a hotel a little too far from Kepler. By the time Janice got back, it was early evening and she was about ready to pass out. Still, she mentally prepared to make a phone call once she’d settled in for the night, fiddling with the device in her pocket as she unlocked the door to her room. Still no service. She’d have to use the hotel phone.

 

Perhaps luckily, perhaps unluckily, before she put her bag down there was already a voice asking, “So, how’d it go?”

 

Evan was sitting on one of the beds, looking at Janice come through the door; Victoria was sleeping behind her, still as death; and Bumblebee had set up shop on the chair in the corner with her DS. Janice blinked, confused for a heartbeat before she let out a relieved sigh and said, “We’re good. Mama’s letting us all crash at the lodge.”

 

“Sweet.” Evan watched, unmoving, as Janice set her bag down and flopped onto her bed face-down next to it.

 

Oh, to be surrounded by softness again. “When did you get here?” Janice asked, turning onto her back.

 

Evan shrugged. “A while ago. Not much to pack and all back at headquarters.”

 

Janice could only nod, eyes glued to the ceiling a few feet left of the much-too-bright lamp. The cold aura that Evan and Victoria radiated finally sunk into Janice’s senses as Aubrey’s warm magic aura and the heat from the running car faded away; the chill raised goosebumps up and down her arms. Evan still didn’t move, not even bothering to breathe as she waited for Janice to say something else. What she _expected_ Janice to say was a mystery. They made eye contact for two, three, five seconds, waiting for someone to speak. Janice looked back up at the ceiling. Evan said nothing.

 

Two minutes that felt like an eternity, and then the silence snapped. “Evan!” Bumblebee said, standing up from her chair. “Help me name my new Pokemon!”

 

Evan’s expression shifted for the first time since Janice had gotten back as she smiled at Bumblebee. Bumblee hopped up onto the bed next to Evan, who watched the game in Bumblebee’s hand and gave various suggestions for names. Janice drifted in and out of awareness, finally freed from watch. There was still a lot to do. She needed to decide what to pack. She’d need a new car; she couldn’t hold onto the Grimm one for much longer without an assignment. Hers was around here, somewhere; she was pretty sure Victoria had had it last. Bumblebee would need some sort of disguise. The feathery antennae on her head didn’t take too well to the headband they’d been using to hold them down inside her hair for the last few weeks. Maybe a fairy costume? Did she look too old to be wearing a costume at this time of year? Probably. Her sunglasses wouldn’t even go with a fairy costume.

 

Janice willed herself to stand and start working, but her limbs seemed frozen to the bed, tied down by… something. She let her eyes close, giving up for a little while. The others knew well enough not to unpack their stuff, so she could get away with just repacking what little she needed on a daily basis and leaving whenever they were ready. Sure, the sooner they were in Kepler, the better, but _soon_ inherently wasn’t _now_. They had the rest of the night and next morning to settle and talk room arrangements and supplies. She realized with a dull groan that she’d have to drive _back_ down to Kepler to confirm which rooms they’d have unless she wanted to put it off until the last minute and just call ahead before they left (which was, at that moment, real damn tempting).

 

She heard someone get off the other bed and move around the room, but who it was she couldn’t discern. Even with her newly heightened senses, Victoria and Evan’s auras were too similar to tell apart and too overwhelming for Janice to feel Bumblebee’s if they were both around.

 

Someone touched her shoulder; they spoke and Janice realized with some measure of relief that it was Victoria. “Janice, are we really going to get to stay in Kepler again?”

 

“Yes. I just got back from talking to Mama…” Janice chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Not too long ago.”

 

“Oh, perfect,” Victoria said, her smile evident in her voice. “I was hoping we’d get to go soon.”

 

Janice made a noise of agreement and listened to what she now could track as Victoria’s footsteps move to the other side of the room. Victoria and Evan were talking, but their whispers mixed with the sounds of Bumblebee’s game and in her dozing state Janice couldn’t make out the specifics. Something about food, drinks, Bumblebee... She probably should’ve been paying attention, as it sounded like something she was expected to give an opinion on. Even if she wanted nothing more than to pass out.

 

She tried again and managed to will her limbs to sit up, rubbing her eyes. “Wait, what are we talking about?” she asked.

 

“Getting celebratory dinner,” Victoria said. “We’re all a little tired from traveling, why not treat ourselves?”

 

That sounded like so much work.

 

“We can’t eat here anyway. Nowhere to cook,” Evan pointed out as she pushed up her glasses. “Unless you and Bumblebee were planning on eating microwaved food.”

 

“There’s food downstairs. But it’s not very good. It all smells like plastic,” Bumblebee said, eyes still focused on her game.

 

“Probably shipped in it,” Evan explained. “But, yeah, if we’ve got the cash, I’d prefer something that’s not complimentary hotel food.”

 

Janice took a quick inventory in her head of how much physical cash she had on her at the moment; it probably wasn’t enough for dinner for four anywhere near here. But her Grimm card from their last mission still worked, and if she submitted a (truthful, technically) report that it was to feed her unit she wouldn’t get in trouble. Even if she was the only one of the four who needed food to live.

 

“Give me… time to nap,” Janice sighed. “And then we’ll go.”

 

She curled up on the bed, still fully clothed but too tired coming down from her anxiety high to care. She was out like a light, dreamless and content. … and woke twenty minutes later on the dot, like clockwork, stomach starting to poke at itself. Evan looked over when Janice’s eyes snapped open with a gasp, now leaning against the headboard watching Bumblebee play on her DS; Victoria was standing by the bags in the corner and pulled out an outfit without acknowledging her. “Good?” Evan asked.

 

Janice pushed herself up and rubbed her eyes. “Yes, I think so,” she said, adjusting her shirt. Damn, her uniform was wrinkled.

 

“Well, then get dressed in regular clothes. Tori found a place nearby.”

 

Getting ready took little time. Janice didn’t want to do anything more complicated than a putting on a t-shirt and Victoria had her outfit picked out and thrown on by the time they put together a trial run for a new disguise for Bumblebee (this time, they reasoned, they wouldn’t push her antennae down, just make them look like they were a purposeful accessory). Neither Evan or Bumblebee felt any particular need to change, as per usual, and soon enough they were out the door. Janice suppressed a giggle when she saw Evan and Victoria standing together, arms linked; Evan was dressed in a tank top and sweats with a windbreaker thrown on top and sandals despite the cold weather, but Victoria had chosen a plain button-up and pants, her nice shoes much more appropriate for the temperature -- and then, of course, the multiple facial piercings and ring-bracelets Victoria sported and the murals of tattoos peeking out of Evan’s windbreaker at the cuffs and collar. Janice had known the couple for a few years, now, but their clashing senses of style remained one of the more enchanting things about them.

 

With Evan and Victoria’s hands occupied, Bumblebee took hold of Janice’s hand as they all walked out of the hotel and down to the car. Janice’s car was parked a few spaces down from the Grimm car, reassuring her of at least one thing she could take care of with low effort. “I’m going to drop off the car,” Janice said. “Follow me over?

 

The drop off point was, thankfully, only a few minutes drive away, up on a hill that was hidden from the hotel by a cluster of trees. She left the keys in the driver’s seat and jogged back down the hill to the road, climbing inside of the waiting car and flopping against it with a sigh. Her stomach rumbled and the true hunger hit her like a brick, making her groan. Victoria chuckled from the passenger seat. “Well, looks like we left just in time.”

 

Janice snorted and rolled her eyes. “Let’s get going.”

 

Bumblebee switched to the middle seat to show Janice her Pokemon while they drove. The DS had become her favorite thing about the human world (besides the other three members of her unit, they hoped) and Janice had a sneaking suspicion she’d need to buy some new games for it soon. She wished she could look them up while they were on the move but signal was spotty in the region and, hungry and tired as she was, she didn't feel like fighting slow internet.

 

They pulled up to the restaurant as Bumblebee had begun explaining her new set of tactics for competitions outside of the main questline and Janice promised she’d listen to the rest later. The restaurant was unremarkable and not too fancy, its name not quite registering in Janice’s mind; she just took Bumblebee’s hand and followed Evan and Victoria inside. Someone (probably Victoria) had called ahead, so they got a table before Janice was done processing the decor of the inside and the auras of everyone inside buzzing in her ears. The group was tucked away in a corner, away from the main crowd and the noise they gave off. Victoria and Evan sat across from each other, Bumblebee tucked up against Evan’s side and Janice next to Victoria. Janice rubbed her temples, taking a deep breath.

 

“We’ll head down tomorrow,” she said. “I don’t suppose it really matters what time unless any of you three have a preference.”

 

Evan, not looking up from the napkin she was carefully tearing apart, said, “Not early.”

 

“Perhaps in the early afternoon?” Victoria offered. “That gives us time to pack and call ahead.”

 

Janice nodded. She could work with early afternoon and it would let her get some actual sleep, which lately had been in short supply. Just thinking about everything made her tired all over, the nap only barely holding her head above the water. She let her head drop down onto the table with her eyes barely peeking over her arms, the decision hanging in the air and left there to stay as Evan and Victoria talked among themselves and Bumblebee pulled out her DS again, sunglasses propped up on her head.

 

“Are we gonna be there long?” Bumblebee asked.

 

“In Kepler?” Victoria asked. “Well, we’ll have to see. Janice, do you know?”

 

“Indefinitely,” Janice said, shrugging her shoulders. “Until… we figure something out. About. Her.”

 

Silence settled. Not the answer anybody wanted. Janice took a deep breath and said, “Let’s just eat. We can figure out the rest later, and I’m starving.”


	4. Fall, Arguments, and a Moth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aubrey goes for a walk, witnesses an argument, and realizes just exactly what she's getting into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE'RE FINALLY LIVE FOLKS  
> chp 6 took some wrestling but i'm back!! things are finally starting to pick up : 3 also it includes some of my favorite early scenes fajskldf  
> i hope you enjoy!!

Aubrey was pulling on her coat to leave when the phone rang. It wasn’t a sound she was used to, anymore, and it caught her off guard enough that she jumped and almost smacked her head on the door frame. After a moment of pause and the realization that none of the other people scattered around the lobby were going to answer the ringing phone, she picked it up and said, “Hello? You’ve reached Amnesty Lodge.”

 

An unfamiliar voice answered, “Hello! Is Mama around?” The voice was pleasant and smiley, so much so that it made Aubrey’s shoulders relax.

 

“Um, I can get a message to her,” Aubrey offered. “I think she might be out.”

 

“Oh, well that’s fine! If you see her, just tell her Janice hopes we’ll be down there by this evening.”

 

Janice. Oh, shit, was that today? From the conversation, Aubrey had assumed that they would come later that week. “Can do,” Aubrey said, running her hand over the shaved parts of her hair. “Should I just say Janice called…? You don’t sound like Janice.”

 

The voice laughed; for a moment her words were muffled, as if she’d covered the microphone, and then she said clearly, “That’d be because I’m not Janice, I’d imagine. But introductions will have to wait, I’ve got to finish helping here. Thank you for delivering the message for us.”

 

“Y-yeah, no problem,” Aubrey said.

 

The phone clicked off without the voice saying goodbye, leaving Aubrey with a beeping phone. She set the phone back on the receiver and thought. Someone needed to give Mama the message, but she didn’t know where she was. Maybe Barclay knew?

 

“Barclay!” Aubrey called. “I have a question.”

 

Barclay poked his head out of the kitchen, a dish and towel frozen in his hands. “Yeah?” he asked, watching Aubrey jog over to the window into the kitchen.

 

“Where’s Mama? The call just now was for her.”

 

For a moment, he looked confused; maybe he hadn’t heard the phone ringing? Aubrey waited for the silence to go on longer than it should’ve taken for him to reply, and then added, “It’s a message about the... people coming to stay here.”

 

His face flipped through a series of expressions: a deeper confusion, recognition, shock, and eventually a nervous grin that Aubrey was starting to suspect was his default expression regarding anything unexpected related to the Pine Guard, or just unexpected in general. “Oh, right,” he said, setting the dish aside. “I know you were planning on going somewhere today, I’ll let Mama know when she gets back, how about that?”

 

“Kinda what I was hoping for, honestly,” Aubrey said with a one-shoulder shrug. “Um, they said they’re planning to be down this evening.”

 

“This evening,” he breathed, shoulders slumping. “That soon?”

 

Aubrey nodded, taking a deep breath. “Exciting, right?” She put on a grin; her brain wasn’t quite sure whether her excitement about meeting new people was going to win over her nervousness about meeting even more new people.

 

Barclay didn’t share _any_ of her excitement, judging by the way his nervous grin fell to him chewing on the inside of his cheek and a “Sure.” He closed his eyes for a moment, opened them, and slapped on his own grin. “Just go on your walk, Aubrey, I’ll take care of it.”

 

He shooed her away with a weak gesture; she waved and darted back over to the door. Her thoughts raced faster than her feet, spinning themselves in circles too hard to pick apart to ponder singular questions. The full moon was coming up, it was too possible that these new guests would want to be involved if a monster came through the gate. But they  _were_ professional monster hunters, maybe they would make the hunt easier than the last two hunts. Or they’d just push the Pine Guard aside and take over the hunt since they were a team themselves. Or --

 

“Hey, Aubrey!”

 

Dani broke the cycle of thoughts, bringing Aubrey crashing into the present. She was waiting by the door, bound in a thick jacket and a red scarf, and smiling. Aubrey grinned, giving Dani a quick, tight hug and kiss on the forehead before taking her hand. “Ready?” Aubrey asked.

 

“Mhm.” Dani settled against Aubrey’s side and pushed open the door.

 

They were just going on a walk around town -- fall was still in full swing, so it was warm enough to walk around without seven pounds of gear -- but going out with Dani meant Aubrey was free to untangle her thoughts in the beats of silence and get some exercise that hanging around the lodge made her crave. Of course, being with Dani and getting to talk to her about whatever was never a downside.

 

Once they were far enough away from Amnesty Lodge, Aubrey blurted, “They’re coming down tonight.”

 

She startled Dani for a moment, who’d been expecting a calmer beginning to their walk, but once the words soaked in she perked up. “Tonight?” she echoed. “That seems really sudden.”

 

“I  _know_ , right?” Aubrey said, throwing up the arm not holding Dani’s hand. “I thought she said a couple days, but apparently not.”

 

Dani hummed, fiddling with a strand of her hair. “The others must already be in West Virginia, then,” she said. “I didn’t think their headquarters was anywhere around here.”

 

They paused just off the road to Amnesty Lodge, the forest stretching out in front of them. Fall bugs buzzed in the trees, and Aubrey’s thoughts were still tangled. So much for a calm walk helping her sort out her thoughts. After a few seconds, Dani straightened her back, smiling. “But that’s not what we’re here for,” she said, leaning her head on Aubrey’s shoulder. “I just want to take a walk with you.”

 

Aubrey’s face flushed and she laughed. “Yeah, okay.”

 

The walk to town was free of discussion of their coming guests; it seemed far away when Aubrey was with Dani in the quiet of fall-time Kepler instead of in the lobby of Amnesty Lodge. Even when they ran into Ned on his way to “oh, you know, the place,” Aubrey didn’t mention it, though they were supposed to have a Pine Guard meeting the next day.

 

Oh well. They still wanted to do a lap of the scattered stores nearby and the forest surrounding the lodge. Aubrey could sort her thoughts out in the background while they spent some time together.

 

They made it back to the lodge as evening began to set in and opened the door to tension you could wade through. Many of the Sylvan inhabitants had cleared out to eat or to their rooms, draining the lobby of its usual homey warmth. Mama had pulled Janice (now dressed much less formally, Aubrey noticed) off to the corner by the kitchen window, where they were whispering to each other and, judging by Mama’s expression and Janice’s clenched fists, having an argument. The circle of couches in the middle of the lobby were still occupied, one seat by Agent Stern and two more by three new figures.

 

It took a heartbeat for Aubrey to recognize the two women sharing one chair; it was Evan and Victoria, with Victoria reading in Evan’s lap while Evan scanned the room as if for threats. And, now right in front of her instead of inside of a charcoal drawing, they made  _quite_ a pair.

 

Evan’s hair was a red that tiptoed the edge of unnatural and stole Aubrey’s attention before anything else. A windbreaker covered the tattoos the drawing had depicted, but the large white rose in the middle of her chest was obvious enough. Her entire outfit was casual and gray toned as if she was trying to blend into the evening light outside. One arm of her glasses had been taped back together.

 

Victoria sported almost as many piercings as Aubrey did, all glittering silver and many decorated with skull motifs and carvings. The golden hue of her hair and the titanium and silver of the multi-finger ring-bracelets she had on both hands stood out against the navy of her button-up and made her look like she was glowing. She was leaning on Evan, eyes half-shut as she read, with a band-aid across her cheek.

 

Dani waved at them with the best smile she could manage. Victoria perked up and waved back. Something about them set off a tiny alarm bell in the back of Aubrey’s head.

 

The final chair was taken up by someone Aubrey didn’t recognize at all. A girl, a teenager as best as Aubrey could guess, with long dark hair and brown eyes trained on a DS as she sat sideways, almost lying in the seat. She sported a fluffy orange sweater, long pants, and socks with a floral pattern, her shoes and a pair of pastel orange sunglasses discarded at the foot of the chair. Two bright orange, fluffy antennae stuck out of the top of her head, sitting right behind an orange headband.

 

Wait, what?

 

Mama looked over at Aubrey and Dani still standing in the doorway with their coats on and her and Janice’s argument screeched to a halt. Aubrey locked eyes with each of them in turn for a moment before Mama motioned her and Dani over, her lips pressed into a flat line. Aubrey looked at Dani, who just shrugged, chewing on the inside of her lip.

 

“I’m gonna go back to my room,” Dani whispered. “See you in the morning?”

 

“Yeah,” Aubrey whispered back.

 

Dani split off and down the hallway while Aubrey pulled off her coat on her way over to stand with Mama and Janice. Janice smiled when Aubrey came into earshot, waving and saying, “Hello again, Aubrey,” in the same whisper as before.

 

“Um, hi,” Aubrey replied, dropping her volume to match the conversation. She glanced over at Mama and asked, “Did something…?”

 

Mama huffed, rolling her eyes. “Something happened all right. Janice brought a damn fae into the lodge. Her file didn’t say anything about that.”

 

“Because she’s not registered as one!” Janice insisted. “She is a _child_. I’ve told you, Mama, we’re in a hell of a mess right now. Do you really think I would’ve reported that a fae imprinted on my team? Would _you_?”

 

That stopped the conversation. Mama glared down at Janice, lips pursed. Aubrey stuck her hands in her pockets, unsure of what she could do to defuse the argument (or why Mama had called her over to witness it). Janice ran a hand over her eye and repeated, “Mama, would you tell somebody with _those_ interests that a fae imprinted on your team?”

 

“No, no I wouldn’t,” Mama admitted.

 

Aubrey looked back at the chairs, dimly aware that Mama and Janice were talking again; Agent Stern had gotten up and left, thankfully, but everyone else was still in place. The girl looked up at Aubrey, held her gaze for a moment and immediately returned to her handheld. Aubrey wondered if this girl was the fae Mama was so upset about -- and then she didn’t have to wonder anymore, because the girl’s antennae noticeably twitched to rest backward on her head, and upon closer inspection, she  _de_ _finitely_ didn’t have any pupils. Aubrey looked away, shoulders tensing, and tuned back into the conversation.

 

“She’s not aggressive,” Janice was promising. “As long as she’s got her games and one of us is easy to get to, she hardly does _anything_ without prompting. Let alone cause issues for you.”

 

Her voice broke and Aubrey felt the familiar twinge of awkward tension escalating another few notches. Mama took a deep breath, steeled herself, and sighed, “Alright, Janice, but you better not be pulling my leg.”

 

“Promise.” Janice’s shoulders slumped with her exhale, and Mama left to her room without another word.

 

There were a few moments of silence before anyone moved. Janice spoke first, turning to Aubrey and saying, “Um, sorry you had to see that. I was hoping Mama wouldn’t notice until I could talk to her, but…”

 

“Yeah,” Aubrey said, shrugging one shoulder. “That looked like a pretty rough conversation.”

 

“Something like that,” Janice said. “If you’d like, though, I can introduce you to everyone.”

 

Aubrey looked over at the chairs again, took a deep breath, and said, “Sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guess who it is....... me!  
> i know it's been a while since this chapter was posted, but i never linked the art i did for it!!  
> so [here's the art!](https://thegempage.tumblr.com/post/184841739478/image-description-a-short-comic-with-simple) it's aubrey's reaction to bumblebee bcus i love that scene a lot


	5. Grimm Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introductions are in order, introductions are had, and Janice does something maybe a _little_ stupid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me? late? what?  
> .... yes, i am much later than i thought : (  
> i got a second job recently, and it turns out that _murders_ your creative energy. but hopefully, with this new, final arc i can get some creative juices going and figure out some.... _details_ about the ending to this fic :eyes:  
> (and how about that final arc beginning, huh?!)  
> but either way, i hope you enjoy!

Janice had just wanted this to go smoothly. For once, in the last few months, for  _something_ to go smoothly. But, of course, that was a foolish wish snatched out of her fingers like a paper in the wind.

 

An argument with Mama wasn’t how she wanted to start _anything_ (or end anything, or get involved with ever, or --), let alone an indefinite stay at the lodge Mama ran and loved. Having someone who she’d likely be working with in the future be introduced to her team immediately after witnessing said argument was almost worse. At least Aubrey had been nice, so far.

 

Aubrey had answered “yes” to introductions, but when she moved toward where everyone was sitting Janice took a moment to fall into a chair with her head in her hands. The argument, what she’d said during the argument, was making her stomach turn; she meant all of it, she wanted to protect her team and she especially wanted to keep Bumblebee out of trouble. Naturally, that meant going behind a lot of people’s backs and appealing to the quiet protectiveness she knew Mama had built up from years of grief. But meaning it and coming from a place of kindness didn’t make her feel much better.

 

Everything was quiet save for the soft music coming from Bumblebee’s DS, the lobby empty except for the five of them. The air was full of conflicting feelings: the natural cold of Evan and Victoria’s auras, the heat of Aubrey’s, the strange alien nature of Bumblebee’s, the tension rolling off of her own aura in waves strong enough to overcome her normal ability to block it out. Everything felt like it was glossed over with static, not thick enough to obscure everything but present enough to make her head hurt. Silently, Janice wished that she could… disappear. Just for a bit. Go somewhere to calm down. Maybe into the woods. That’d be nice.

 

“Sorry,” she breathed, looking up at Aubrey with a smile again. “I was going to introduce everyone.”

 

“Hey, it’s fine,” Aubrey assured her; the smile on her face seemed… genuine. Softer than Janice would have expected from someone who had just met her. “Sounds like it’s been rough for you guys recently.”

 

Janice stood, pushing her hair back from her face. “Everyone, this is Aubrey, the new Pine Guard member I mentioned yesterday.”

 

Aubrey waved, saying, “Hi!”

 

A beat of silence. Aubrey put her hand back in her pocket. Janice held her breath. Victoria looked like she was thinking; Evan was watching, waiting; Bumblebee had yet to look up from her game. She’d turned up the music again. Janice looked to Victoria, who seemed to be the only one who was preparing to speak at all, and prayed.

 

“Oh!” Victoria said, her eyes lighting up. “Aubrey! I think we spoke on the phone earlier.”

 

She put a bookmark in her book and hopped down from the chair, holding out a hand to Aubrey. “It’s a pleasure to meet you in person,” she said, grinning. “I’m Victoria, and this is my wife, Evan.”

 

Evan did a small salute with her fingers. “Evening, Aubrey.”

 

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Aubrey said, shaking Victoria’s hand. There was  _that_ little smile on her face at the mention of their marriage, which clicked something in Janice’s brain.

 

(Seeing them stand together, it hit Janice just how tall Aubrey was; to Janice, everyone was a bit tall, but Aubrey stood almost as tall as Evan, who was already well over six feet. She wasn’t sure why it stood out to her so much, but maybe. Maybe she was just tired. She was probably just tired.)

 

Janice sat down again, sinking into the chair with an _oof_ of relief and tried to pretend her stomach wasn’t rumbling. It was… actually starting to hurt; she curled up so her legs were in the chair to fight off the sensation until the conversation was over. This wasn’t the time to lose focus.

 

“Bumblebee,” Evan prompted, looking over.

 

Bumblebee looked up from her game, her expression flat. “Hi,” she said.

 

“Bumblebee, I’m guessing?” Aubrey said with a half-giggle. “It’s nice to meet you.”

 

“Mhm.” Bumblebee watched Aubrey for a moment, her antennae twitching, and Janice felt a sigh build in her throat. “Can you show me a magic trick?”

 

Somehow, the beat silence that followed was the worst one yet. They’d had a conversation about this in the car. Questions were, in general, frowned upon as conversation starters. Especially asking questions of strangers, triple asking questions of anyone in monster hunting. And here she was. Asking a question as a conversation starter. Even though Janice hadn’t mentioned anything about Aubrey’s magic aura, nor had Bumblebee given them any indication that _she_ could feel auras. Hell, Aubrey wasn’t dressed in magician’s clothes and Janice hadn’t seen any hint of the gloves she’d put on to do magic the day before. Was Bumblebee just guessing? Was it the hair? Had she seen Aubrey before? They’d wondered for a while if Bumblebee knew more about the world than she let on, and Aubrey had mentioned being a traveling magician before joining the Pine Guard… Janice rubbed her eyes, letting the sigh escape.

 

Bumblebee looked at each of them in turn. Evan raised her eyebrows, motioning for her to continue. “Please?” Bumblebee added.

 

She grinned when Victoria nodded. Bumblebee slid off the chair, closing and setting her DS aside. She stood in front of Aubrey with her hands clasped behind her back, trying for a curious expression. Aubrey blinked and pushed her glasses up her nose. She looked at Janice. Janice shrugged. She couldn’t focus enough to talk and listen at the same time, anymore, with her stomach rolling over itself. Victoria caught Aubrey’s attention and smiled, mouthing, “It’s up to you.”

 

“What… kind of magic trick?” Aubrey tried.

 

Bumblebee hummed and her antennae reached out toward Aubrey as if sniffing her out. “You choose,” she decided.

 

Aubrey put her hands on her hips and chewed on her lip. “Okay, I’ve got something,” she said, taking a step back. “Watch this.”

 

Aubrey pulled her gloves out of her pocket and slipped them on. She clapped her hands together, sending tiny sparks flying with a grin. Maybe Bumblebee hadn’t done as much damage as Janice had feared. And they’d get to see a magic trick!

 

Victoria sat back down next to Evan, her head tilted thoughtfully. Janice uncurled a little, leaning her head on the back of the chair to watch. Bumblebee didn’t move, watching Aubrey from where she was standing.

 

“Okay!” Aubrey took a deep breath, rolled up her sleeves, and snapped her fingers.

 

Flames lit up each glove, running between her fingertips and over the backs of her hand, lighting up the room with an orange glow. She clapped again, urging the flames higher, and then shot finger guns toward the barely-lit fireplace. Each hand shot a line of flames, which collided and lit the wood. The fire roared to life, flooding everything with warmth and Janice’s brain with another layer of static.

 

Bumblebee gasped and her eyes glowed with excitement. She waved her hands and said, “That was. So cool!” She walked over to Aubrey, antennae twitching as she watched Aubrey take off her gloves and stuff them back into her pocket. “How did you do it? Please.”

 

Aubrey stopped, blinking. “I don’t… really know,” she admitted.

 

“Hmm.” Bumblebee looked up at Aubrey, tapping her chin. “Two planets,” she mused, nodding. “Perhaps…”

 

“Hey, kiddo, why don’t we head to bed?” Evan suggested. “It’s been a long day.”

 

A long day? Wasn’t it early evening? Janice turned her head enough to see the front lobby windows -- or, rather, not see the windows, because the sun had set below the treeline and cast the entire lodge in darkness, save for the electric lights. Fall was disorienting.

 

“Oh!” Aubrey sounded like she hadn’t realized time was passing either. “I should go get some shut-eye myself, so… I’ll see you in the morning!” She waved before spinning on her heel to head down the hall.

 

Janice glanced toward the kitchen, slumping further into the chair. After everyone had gone to sleep, she told herself. Then she could eat.

 

“We’re really staying?” Bumblebee asked, now standing next to Janice’s chair.

 

“Yep,” Evan answered for her. She and Victoria sat up, linking hands. “You can come to our room if you want, okay?”

 

“And your bag is with ours,” Victoria reminded her. “Janice, are you staying up for a while?”

 

Janice nodded, waving. She was left behind with a chorus of goodnights and clicking switches. And then she was up and making a beeline for the kitchen. She hadn’t gotten used to it, yet, this new appetite she had, but a few sandwiches had done the trick just fine the last time she was this hungry (they’d have to, this time, there was no one who knew how to cook to save her ass).

 

She snuck back to the door of her room with four hastily wrapped sandwiches and a thermos of water shoved in a bag, ready to be eaten… But she paused at the door, waiting, listening. She wanted to try something. She guided open her senses just a little, just enough, tried to figure out what had been lingering in the back of her head. The whole lodge was buzzing with an energy unlike the human crowds Janice had tried this on before, energy that was higher and louder, energy that echoed across light years. She tried to tune in, open up even further, listen to the breathing of the entire lodge at once. In, out. In, out. In --

 

The shrieking rocked her mind and made her drop her sandwich bag. She gripped her head, trying to shut down the signal, close the gate, whatever fun metaphor Dr. Church had used. Janice crumpled to the floor, breathing as the sound faded, faded, faded. No more sounds. Just sensations. Just the sensations of her coworkers across the hall and the trees outside their rooms. The sensations of the trickled tears dripping down from her eyes. Nothing else.

 

She would live. She needed sleep.

 

She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt. The door didn't creak. Janice sat on the floor in her room, hidden from the view of the doorway by the bed, and ate her sandwiches as slowly as she could make herself, still unsure in the new environment. Bumblebee had gone to Evan and Victoria’s room, and that was fine with her. She wanted some peace and quiet for a while. Which, thankfully, she found wrapped in the comforter from the bed lying on the cold wood of the floor, a single pillow tucked under her head.

 

She knew, in her heart, she was going to sleep for far too long, but it was too late to figure that out the second her head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also!  
> (i know, spooky, a non-generic endnote)  
> in the upcoming chapters, there's going to be a _bit_ of change with the perspective. they'll stay third person limited, and will always go in the pattern of reaper unit --> pine guard --> reaper unit --> pine guard. i won't be changing it up too much, so most of the chapters will still be Janice and Aubrey, but as i started work on a chapter from the perspective of another pine guard member today i figured i'd throw a heads-up your way  
> anyway, good day/evening/night, as it applies to you!!


	6. Complicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aubrey has questions and more questions are on everyone's mind. Janice has the answers. Getting those answers is not easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> has it been two months? yes  
> do i wish i could've finished this sooner? yes  
> will getting a new therapist hopefully get me to a place in life where a new chapter doesn't take two months to post? hopefully!!  
> so here's chp 6, i hope you enjoy, and i'd love to hear from you!  
> have a good day/afternoon/evening!!

For a few moments, lying awake after an unintentional mid-morning nap, Aubrey was convinced the previous night hadn’t happened. Remembering it felt like a dream (a very confusing and slightly distressing dream). She’d met an actual fae, who looked like a teenage girl and had immediately picked up on the fact that she did magic. Somehow, Janice was more stressed than during their first meeting, as if whatever composure she’d had was torn to shreds during her handful of hours away, in a way that set Aubrey on edge. Something about Evan and Victoria had felt off, too, now that she’d met them in person; it was as if they were colder than anybody else Aubrey had met, more like standing next to an undisguised Moira than someone made of flesh and blood. Maybe it was her slowly developing magic senses overreacting (or the ADHD, or both), but she couldn’t be sure.

 

She'd have to ask about that later. Who she’d ask, she had no idea, but someone was bound to have an answer for it. Maybe Janelle? Janelle knew about magic stuff. Did this count as magic stuff?

 

Aubrey rolled out of bed and let Dr. Harris Bonkers back out of his hutch with a stretch and a yawn. He followed her footsteps as she moved around the room to refresh all of his food, water, and bedding (and then herself). This was routine, a to-do list she’d trained herself to do with relative ease, and she escaped the thoughts plaguing her mind if only for twenty minutes. For twenty minutes, she could just… drift. Not think about anything but the task in front of her, especially not strange events and even stranger visitors.

 

The twenty minutes, though, had to come to an end. Leaving the door open, Aubrey stepped out into the hall. The lodge was quiet, most of the residents having left to go about their days already, including the late risers. Mama was out, her coat gone from the rack, but Aubrey spotted Dani and Jake by the kitchen window chatting with Barclay. “Hey!” Aubrey called, jogging over to join the conversation.

 

Jake was the only one who didn’t jump at Aubrey’s appearance, but Dani and Barclay’s relief that it was just her was instant. “Morning, Aubrey,” Barclay said. “Sleep alright?”

 

“You didn’t come to breakfast,” Dani added, taking Aubrey’s hand.

 

“Um, yeah, I think so,” Aubrey said. “Not any worse than yesterday.” Something about the response felt like she was missing a piece of the answer, but it kept escaping her, sliding just beyond her reach. Registering Dani’s comment, she added, “I think I fell back asleep on accident.”

 

There was a beat of silence, the kind that meant everyone was thinking something and nobody wanted to say it out loud. Aubrey scrambled to try to figure out what it was, what could’ve happened that she was missing, was it something about the people from Grimm? Had something happened to Mama or Duck or Ned that nobody wanted to break to her? She opened her mouth, tempted to ask, and then shut it, fiddling with her tongue piercing instead to keep herself quiet until someone decided to talk.

 

Jake saved them from the silence; he coughed, messing with the snow goggles perched on his head as he looked around before speaking. “Did you feel that _thing_?” he asked, his voice pressed into a whisper. “Last night, the weird energy wave.”

 

The missing piece of her answer. A memory of a sensation like the breeze of someone walking past in her brain instead of on her skin. But less cold? The sensation was starting to slip beyond her grip again, lost in the thoughts of what could have caused it that followed. “Yeah,” Aubrey responded, mimicking his whisper; instinctively, she huddled in closer, followed by Dani (but not Barclay, who had pressed his lips into the line that meant he was nervous about something and drifted further into the kitchen to get away from the conversation when Jake spoke).

 

“I think I was already asleep,” Dani confessed, “but my dream… it kind of fizzled, if that makes sense?”

 

“Like static?” Aubrey suggested.

 

“Yeah, like that, like it turned to static.”

 

Jake put a hand to his chin, frowning. “Weird,” he decided on.

 

“I wonder if it’s… them,” Dani offered. “I heard Mama and Barclay talking about Grimm stepping up their experiments. Maybe they’re trying to replicate magic?”

 

Aubrey ran a hand through her hair. The sensation wasn't anything she'd ever felt, even while getting in touch with her own magic. It didn't make any sense, and the knowledge wasn't sitting great. “I’ve never been able to do something like that,” she said. “And why would they need magic?”

 

“The monsters getting stronger?” Dani said, shrugging one shoulder. “The abominations have been more powerful recently, right?”

 

“That’s what Barclay was talking about, yeah.”

 

“Wait.” Jake put up his hands. “Before we like, get into a debate about this. What if we just… asked?”

 

Aubrey and Dani stared at him for a moment, and then Dani giggled. “That’d make sense, huh?”

 

Of course, as Aubrey realized after they split up to find someone with answers, it would’ve helped if they knew where any of their visitors were. Barclay told her that Evan and Victoria had left, but he didn’t see if Bumblebee had gone with them, nor did he know where Janice was. He pointed Aubrey in the direction of their rooms with the kind of motion that meant he wasn’t particularly psyched to get more involved than that.

 

One of the doors he’d mentioned was left open, revealing an empty room with a few bags stashed in the corner, all partially open. The other was closed, and Aubrey walked over to it, assuming that had to be Janice’s. She raised her hand to knock, but the door swung open before she made contact.

 

Janice was standing in the doorway, her shoulders tense and a big grin on her face. “Morning, Aubrey!” she said.

 

To say that she looked like a mess was an understatement. Her smile was genuine, but her hand on the doorknob was shaking and Aubrey of all people knew what panic brushed hair looked like. And those were _definitely_ the clothes she'd been wearing when Aubrey went to bed. She maintained the smile, waiting for Aubrey to speak.

 

“Hey, Janice!” Aubrey said, putting her hands in her pockets. “We were looking for you.”

 

“Were you!” Janice laughed. She looked down the hall, dropping her smile. In a whisper, she asked, “What ‘we’ are we talking?”

 

“Um. Me, Dani, and Jake.”

 

Janice studied her face. Aubrey smiled, hoping for. Something. For this to go well. For their curiosity to be sated. For the chance to drop her increasingly painful smile.

 

“Oh,” Janice said. Her shoulders relaxed, hands dropping off the door, and finally, she seemed like a _human_ again, in a sense. “Did you… I guess, why. Were you looking for me?”

 

The answer suddenly seemed rude. But it was the only one Aubrey had. “We, uh, had some questions we wanted to ask you! About Grimm and,” she put a hand beside her mouth, whispering, “magic.”

 

“Magic,” Janice repeated as if the air was leaking out of her. “Grimm and magic questions. I might have answers to those.” She paused and looked down at herself. “Why don't I… meet you in the lobby?”

 

“Yeah, that’s okay,” Aubrey said. “I’ll see you there!”

 

Janice closed the door, leaving Aubrey staring at the wood for a solid few seconds while she collected her thoughts. She knew Janice had seemed nervous and tired the day before, but she hadn’t expected her to look quite so rough. She took a deep breath; nothing she could do about it now. Except wait in the lobby to hear the full story.

 

Dani and Jake had both ended up in the lobby by the time she got there and looked up expectantly. “Janice is gonna meet us here,” Aubrey explained.

 

Jake nodded. There was, despite the fact that they hadn’t been separated for very long, a snowboard in Jake’s lap that he was polishing that Aubrey was pretty sure she’d never seen before. Dani shifted over on the couch she’d sat down on, making room for Aubrey to settle in next to her.

 

It wasn’t long before Janice came into the lobby, fully dressed in a shirt and a loose skirt, put together but no less nervous seeming, and she had a sandwich in her hand with a plastic bag hanging off of her arm. She smiled at them with a new energy as she sat down across from the trio. “I heard you had questions for me?” she said, setting the bag on the floor. It fell over, revealing two more sandwiches and a clinking thermos inside.

 

Nobody spoke up and Janice took a bite out of the sandwich in her hand. Aubrey spoke up first, asking, “Did you feel that weird brain energy wave last night?”

 

Janice stopped before taking another bite, staring at the floor in front of Dani and Aubrey’s chair. For a moment Aubrey wondered if she was going to walk away. “I did,” she said, her voice, surprisingly, completely level. "I was at the door to my room when it hit."

 

"Do you know what caused it?"

 

Jake didn't look up from his board as he spoke. "We asked around and like, nobody else knew what happened either."

 

Janice looked at them for a moment, chewing on a bite of sandwich, and then broke eye contact to grab the thermos off the ground. Dani looked over at Aubrey and they met eyes.

 

“ _What do you think?_ ” Dani mouthed.

 

Aubrey shrugged. “ _No idea._ ”

 

Dani pursed her lips and decided against saying anything else. She snuggled closer to Aubrey, waiting. The silence stretched on. Janice took a drink of whatever was in the thermos. And then she looked up, blinked, and said, “Oh, shit, sorry. I… didn’t realize that was directed at me. I haven’t eaten today.”

 

She moved to set her things away, but Aubrey narrowed her eyes; Janice’s movements were careful and calculated, almost _too_ practiced. “I do know,” Janice finally added, sliding the bag away with her foot. She leaned back in her seat, twisting some hair around her finger. “But… it’s. Complicated.”

 

“Complicated,” Dani echoed.

 

“Complicated.”

 

“Complicated as in like, actually complicated, or complicated as in you don’t want to explain?” Aubrey asked.

 

“Complicated. As in I’m. Not good at explaining?” Janice shrugged, sinking further into her chair. She went quiet for a moment, looking between the three of them. “Let’s. Let’s do this instead.”

 

Janice stood up from the chair, steadied herself with one hand, and closed her eyes. Aubrey stilled, holding her breath; Dani sat up at attention; Jake’s careful polishing movements slowed to a stop. Janice took a deep breath, let it out. And as she exhaled, there was the cold sensation in the back of Aubrey’s mind from the night before and the room was filled with blinding lights in a rainbow of colors, strongest surrounding the four people in the room, her skin was glowing red and every inch of her body seemed to be experiencing a different temperature and --

 

And then the lights blinked out of existence and everything was back to normal and she heard a thump against the chair.

 

Shit.


	7. Defying the Doctor's Orders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janice recovers from doing something stupid. Everyone finally gets some answers. Janice picks her lies (to varying degrees of success).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> folks until i get a job with a consistent schedule instead of two jobs with whack schedules we may just have a two month wait between chapters  
> which will hopefully be soon, but ironically said whack schedules make it hard to get a new job  
> but enough about my job woes, a new chapter!!! holy shit!!! it's here and it's one of my favorites of the ones i've written so far bcus janice is a bi disaster and i love her  
> (and that _amnesty finale_!!! no spoilers for it in this chp or any chp for a while -- atm this is all a little while after the water attack -- but man. i cried for like 45 min)  
> anyway!! hope you enjoy, and have a good day/afternoon/evening/night!!!

Janice knew it was a stupid decision going in, but she was desperate to get out of conversation. And stupid decisions shut down conversations better than anything else she’d ever tried.

 

She felt her senses collapse back in on themselves, blinding and deafening her for just a second longer than she would’ve liked before snapping back to their normal state. She was sitting in front of the chair, clinging onto one arm with one hand, her head close enough to the other that she could guess why it was aching. People were talking -- wait, Aubrey and Dani and Jake were talking -- and it was probably about her, but she just let herself settle on the floor and picked up the sandwich she’d been eating to finish it off. Hopefully, she hadn’t spilled her iced coffee on the floor. She probably hadn’t. She’d put the lid back on.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Janice finally looked up, meeting the eyes of her audience, Aubrey kneeling next to her with Dani and Jake stood just off to the side. She smiled in their general direction, unsure of who had actually spoken, and said, “Yep.”

 

“You hit your head,” Aubrey said, wrinkling her eyebrows.

 

“Mhm.”

 

“Doesn’t it… hurt?”

 

Janice shrugged. It did, but she wasn’t about to tell them that; no use backing down from her actions now. “Not really.”

 

They all looked at each other and met eyes. Janice took a gulp from her thermos, ignoring how good the cold air radiating from inside felt on her rapidly heating face. Could freckles melt off? She felt like her freckles were going to melt off. Shit, she was running a fever. Did she have anything for a fever in her room? No, probably not. Dammit. She really was stupid. She’d never pushed her senses that far before; Dr. Church had mentioned a “low possibility” that Janice could extend her aura sensing power to other people temporarily, but they’d never tried it at headquarters. Too risky, Dr. Church had said, waving her pen in Janice’s face. Too risky.

 

More like too  _late_ , now.

 

Janice pushed herself back up into the chair, waving her hands and swishing the thermos in the process. “I’m fine, really,” she insisted. “My powers just take energy to use. You know that feeling, right Aubrey?” She smiled at her, praying that Aubrey would back her up.

 

“Kind… of?”

 

Janice chuckled, her smile unfaltering. “It’s fine,” she repeated, starting to stand. “I just --” The world swayed, and neither her careful facade nor legs could stand up to the heat that washed over her.

 

Her head flooded with cold, and she realized that Jake had put the back of his hand on her forehead. The shiver that rocked her spine made her visibly shake and did nothing to calm those watching her. She needed an out, and she needed it  _now_. Maybe just running away? No, that would look bad. And of course, her team would be gone when she needed them most (as an excuse to get out of a conversation).

 

“Are you _sure_ you’re fine?” Jake asked.

 

Dammit. Janice looked between the other three and twisted the lid back onto her coffee. The "no" she mustered was… almost too small to hear. Not like they hadn't figured it out already. She'd lost her edge. Probably the head injury and growing fever. Her eyes flipped between the three of them, waiting for someone to respond. Nobody seemed to know what to do. Janice looked down at her thermos and her lips tightened into a line. Everyone was buzzing with energy. Aubrey had started tossing a small flame between her fingers. Jake mumbled something about an ice pack and darted off.

 

“What _was_ that?” Dani finally asked.

 

“What I did?” Janice asked.

 

“Yeah.”

 

There wasn’t any getting out of this.

 

Janice brushed her hair back from her face, taking a deep breath. She tried to bring back the memories of Dr. Church’s instructions, the explanations she’d gotten, the packet of background on past volunteers, the scraps of information she’d gotten out of a few other coworkers. Trial and error told her what she could do; listening carefully and official documents told her some of what had gone into the surgeries and the medications. She didn’t know exactly what they were going for (just what she’d wanted), or if they’d succeeded with her trial. The failures of the new program had happened so fast, the procedures had been done so far ahead of schedule, and she’d been waiting to share the results with Rach --

 

“Um, I got this for you?”

 

Jake was back. He put a cold pack wrapped in a towel into Janice’s instinctively outstretched hands. She mumbled a “thank you” and set it against the collar of her shirt, flooding her head with a welcome chill. Heat made it hard to think. She heard the other three sit while staring into her lap.

 

“So.” Janice didn’t look at them as she spoke, twirling the fabric of her skirt in her fingers. “That was me attempting to extend the use of my senses to you three, and it promptly failing.”

 

“Your senses?” Aubrey asked. “You like, see all of those colors and feel the different temperatures all the time?”

 

Janice shrugged one shoulder. “Sort of. I’ve gotten good at numbing it a bit so I don’t lose myself, but… extending it meant giving in to the full strength of what I can do, so you got to experience the worst version.” She chewed on her lip, thinking that phrase over. “Um, sorry, I guess?”

 

Dani combed her hair with her fingers, thinking. “But you’re a human.”

 

“Yep.”

 

“So how can you…?”

 

There it was. The most complicated part of it all. “It’s a long story.”

 

Jake shrugged. “We’ve got time.”

 

Janice managed a chuckle. “Then… I can try my best.” She crossed her ankles, trying to gauge how much they knew. She hadn’t been allowed to discuss Grimm specifics with any of the lodge’s residents during her last stay, and Aubrey was new. So not a lot. Maybe she wouldn’t give the long story.

 

She knew a place to begin. “Grimm uses monster body parts and their derivatives for medication and surgical procedures. You know that part, I think.”

 

Her audience pulled their chairs just a little closer. Janice didn’t look up.

 

“We… also do human augmentation.” Her fingers tightened in her skirt as if attempting to cut off circulation; she could see the paperwork behind her eyes, hear multiple people warning her not to, feel the cramps from countless signatures in her fingers. “Which I volunteered for after we had some… We’ll call them _issues_ with another program.”

 

The memory of a tattoo needle on her stomach tingled at the edge of her mind. She could feel the way Dani gasped and Aubrey’s fingers began tapping on her leg and the way Jake shifted in his seat just a little. She pulled her senses back, suppressed them for this moment, tried to remember what the world had felt like before augmentation. Isolated. She’d felt so isolated.

 

“I didn’t… know I _could_ stretch my senses that far, but heightening them was the main goal of the augmentation program. And the usual, you know, enhanced reflexes, for being out monster hunting. They did a series of surgeries and medication cycles, and now…” She looked up, shrugging with her fingers still wrapped in her skirt. “Now I can do things like that, or like… accidentally sending out a mental signal while trying to listen to an entire lodge at once.”

 

Nothing compared to what her coworkers could do, of course. Or what the other test subjects before her had done. What they'd suffered through. But her audience didn’t need to know that.

 

Aubrey was the first to speak. "So it's different than my magic, then."

 

Janice shrugged. "I don't know how your magic feels, but if that's your reaction, then yes, probably."

 

Saying it out loud was a rush of relief she couldn’t put a finger on the source of.

 

“Does it still count as magic if it comes from science and medicine?” Dani wondered just above a mumble.

 

“Semantics,” Janice said, pulling one hand free to wave it off. “It’s a nice shorthand.”

 

There were a few beats of silence. Janice picked up her second sandwich and started eating it, trying her best to stay composed. This was something people outside of Grimm rarely found out about (and the augmentation wasn't even their most ambitious work) and if they needed a bit to process the information, then she was happy to take a chance to eat. Plus, the more she ate, the more the suppressed fever began to fade. Maybe she'd just been hungry.

 

"Do you have telekinetic powers?" Jake asked.

 

Janice stopped. "I don't know."

 

"Can we find out?"

 

"... let me finish these."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so! a heads up! well two  
> 1\. if you like my taz work, i'm starting to do some [podfics/audiobooks](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOJMA4jJWhHTutxYdshU6nlk9hCrXVdN-) over on my youtube. atm there's just one hurloane fic, but i'm hoping to do more soon!  
> 2\. the chp after this is gonna be that break from the norm i mentioned a little while ago! it'll be from the perspective of a different pine guard member, bcus there are some interesting happenings in the background of this scene : 3  
> hope to see you there!

**Author's Note:**

> hello! it's me! the author!  
> i hope you enjoyed my work!! and that you will continue to!!  
> as always, i love hearing from you guys and i'm grateful for all the kudos and comments i get <3  
> if you'd like to chat about whatever -- taz, this fic, my other fics, being gay, whatever -- then hmu on my social media pages, [thegempage](https://thegempage.tumblr.com/) on tumblr and [achillopal](https://twitter.com/achillopal) on twitter!


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